The 2011 Teaching Political Theory and Theories track drew scholarsfrom Europe and the United States and featured work from politicalscientists representing the four major subfields. While analyzingthe nine papers presented, participants articulated a range ofperspectives on questions of pedagogy and the relationship betweenpolitical theory and political science; indeed, the variety ofperspectives confirmed the ongoing contestability of many centralconcepts in both the scholarship of teaching and learning (SOTAL)and the discipline of political science. Whether discussing ways todevelop assignments for undergraduate research projects on the TeaParty or how to employ insights from deliberative democratic theoryto assess the role of education in addressing racial violence in theUnited States, participants confronted important questions regardingthe role of theory in the discipline, the broadening ofundergraduate and graduate teaching strategies, and assessment ofthe effectiveness of alternative teaching strategies.

The Teaching Research Methods track at the 2011 APSA Teaching andLearning Conference built upon many of the themes from past yearsand brought to fruition some of the recommendations made at previousmeetings. The group touched on numerous topics, but there were a fewmain themes that informed each conversation. First, the papers andcommentary focused on determining the best way to give our students,especially our majors, a solid research methods background. Becausefaculty from many types of colleges and universities were presentand offered varying accounts of the particular needs and careergoals of their school's students, the group did not reach aconsensus as to a uniform course of study that would be appropriatefor every institution. Although participants had different ideasabout how to implement a methods course of study, many presentationshighlighted the necessity to forefront methods training and furtherintegrate it into the political science curriculum.

Richard Pierre Claude epitomized the scholar/activist. As a studentat Florida State in 1960, he sat down with friends at a lunchcounter in Tallahassee in violation of municipal law. He had adistinguished career at the University of Maryland. One of hisproudest achievements was the founding of the Human RightsQuarterly, which he edited for four years. The impetusfor founding HRQ was that the human rights fieldwas dominated by lawyers, and while a number of social scientistswere interested in doing scholarly work on human rights, thetraditional journals were not receptive to this subject matter.Claude's vision for HRQ may be evidenced by theresults from Project Muse, an electronic website administered byJohns Hopkins University Press. Of the 436 journals on Project Muse,Human Rights Quarterly ranked third in terms ofdownloads of articles in 2010, with 207,440.

Professor Emeritus Robert Lynn Savage, 71, of Fayetteville passedaway January 26, 2011. He was born February 26, 1939, in Fort Worth,Texas. He served in the United States Air Force from 1956 to 1959.Savage received his BA degree from Tarleton State College in 1963and his MA degree from the University of Houston, where he served asa graduate and teaching assistant from 1964 to 1966. He graduated in1966 with a thesis entitled “Absurdity and the Political System: ThePolitical Thought of Albert Camus” under the direction of ProfessorJohn Green. Upon graduation, he served as an instructor before hecontinued his pursuit of a doctorate in political science from theUniversity of Missouri–Columbia. He completed his academic work in1971 with a dissertation entitled “Sociocultural Change and PolicyValues in the American States.” His dissertation chair was ProfessorDan Nimmo, with whom Bob maintained a lifelong friendship. Nimmo'sinfluence shaped Savage's interest in political communication andbehavior and state politics. His first appointment as assistantprofessor brought him to Auburn University at Montgomery, where heworked from 1971 to 1974, when he started his career at theUniversity of Arkansas in the fall of 1974. He was promoted toassociate professor just three years later in 1977 and to professorin 1982. He served as interim chair during that year and eventuallyas chair of the department from 1989 to 1998. Bob retired in2001.

Robert Swansbrough was born on May 3, 1938, in Chicago, Illinois, anddied in Chattanooga, Tennessee, on February 1, 2011.

The APSA Annual Meeting, held September 1–4 in Seattle, Washingon, isan opportunity to connect: with colleagues, with the politicalscience community, with a timely topic. Panels and roundtables allowattendees to explore the theme “The Politics of Rights,” whilespecial events encourage interaction and networking. Whether you arein search of scholarly research, an introduction to new contacts,fresh career opportunities, or an opportunity to reconnect withcolleagues, the Annual Meeting has it all.

After careful consideration of suggestions from the APSA membershipand organized groups, the Nominating Committee has agreed on thefollowing slate of political scientists as its nominees for electiveoffice in the association. In developing the final slate of proposedcandidates, the committee was guided by the APSA's bylaws thatrequire “due regard to diversity, geographical distribution, fieldsof professional interest, type of institution, andacademic/nonacademic employment status,” as well as by mandates fromthe APSA Council, the charge from APSA President Carole Pateman, anda commitment to selecting candidates with distinguished records ofachievement in advancing the multiple goals of the APSA.

In addition to the ardent call for political scientists to broadentheir theories about legislative representation and behavior toinclude a broader analysis of the everyday operations of Congress,the call for a more nuanced approach to the study of race and ethnicpolitics resonates just as deeply. With the emergence of blackethnic caucuses such as the Ethiopia and Ethiopian AmericanCongressional Caucus (EEAC) and the subsequent election of PresidentBarack Obama, African immigrants and their progeny have been madevisible to the American polity in ways they have never been before.As an Ethiopian American whose personal and professional interestaims to highlight the significance of black ethnic politicalparticipation and representation in U.S. politics, I found workingfor Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) as an APSA Congressional Fellow to be anextraordinary opportunity to explore how and why African Americanmembers of Congress in particular, and other nonblack legislatorsmore broadly, represent their constituents beyond race.

The Centennial Center for Political Science and Public Affairs is aninvaluable resource to political and social scientists. Since itsopening in September 2003, the Center has housed more than 100scholars. The center, located in the APSA headquarters near DupontCircle, provides a great base of operations for scholars researchingin the DC metro area. The Center offers visiting scholars furnishedwork space, telephone, fax, computers, Internet access, conferencespace, a reference library, and access to George WashingtonUniversity's Gelman Library. Visiting scholar stays range from a fewdays to 12 months. Space is limited to APSA members and is availablefor faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, and advanced graduatestudents from the United States and abroad. Scholars are expected tocover their own expenses and a modest facilities fee for the use ofthe center. Prospective visiting scholars may apply at any time.Positions are awarded on a space-available basis. Full details onthe center and the Visiting Scholars Program are online at http://www.apsanet.org/centennialcenter. You may alsocontact Veronica Jones at APSA: (202) 483-2512; [email protected].

The American Political Science Association's 2011 Africa Workshopwill be led by Todd Eisenstadt and Carl LeVan, both of AmericanUniversity in Washington, DC, along with Josephine Ahikire fromMakerere University in Uganda and Karuti Kanyinga from theUniversity of Nairobi. The Institute for Development Studies at theUniversity of Nairobi will be hosting the workshop in July. Theworkshop will be the fourth in a multi-year effort supported by theAndrew W. Mellon Foundation to encourage collaboration betweenpolitical scientists in United States and Africa.

The APSA discovered just before going to press that theFulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad (DDRA) Program,funded by the U.S. Department of Education, has been cancelled forFY 2011. From the inception of the awards in 1965 through 1994, 13%of all Fulbright-Hays fellowships supported students of politicalscience or economics. In FY 2010, at least ten doctoral politicalscience students received DDRA funding for work in locations rangingfrom Brazil to Burma. The following article provides furtherbackground and highlights some specific research projects DDRAfunding has enabled in Africa.

When this article was written, it was hoped that in a worst-casescenario, the FY 2011 budget passed by Congress would result in asmaller overall number of awards. Unfortunately, the fundingconstraints discussed here have been fully realized, causing thisyear's program to be cancelled entirely. The piece remains in itsoriginal form, in the hope that it poignantly illustrates the valueof DDRA funding and helps make the case for its restoration in theFY 2012 congressional budget. The APSA continues to work withseveral partners, including the National Humanities Alliance and theCoalition for International Education, to reinstate this valuableresource for the social science scholarship of our nation's emergingacademics.

APSA has received three petitions to amend the APSA Constitution. Oneproposal has been submitted by a petition of at least 50 APSAmembers. The other two proposals have been submitted by the APSACouncil.

This Association shall be known as The American Political ScienceAssociation.